As I edit state schedules into a format that works better for the composite schedule, I'm still finding some tidbits I think are interesting. I hope you do, too.
* None of the state's 10 NCAA Division I teams plays every other team in the state. Winthrop (eight) comes the closest, playing every other state team except for Coastal Carolina. Coastal Carolina plays the fewest (two) - Clemson and College of Charleston. Wofford plays five in-state teams, while the remaining six teams play at least six state rivals.
* Clemson has an April 1 game with Georgia Southern at SRP Park in North Augusta. I saw my first game there last year and was impressed with the facility.
* Perhaps The Citadel's hiring of former Clemson player Russell Triplett as coach will lead to more frequent meetings between the teams. They'll play March 18-19 at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The once-regular rivals have played just four times since 2000, the last time coming in 2019. A scheduled home-and-home series in 2020 was wiped out by CoVID. Triplett, formerly at Newberry, replaced Tony Skole after last season.
* USC Upstate (twice) and Presbyterian (once) play host to 2024 Mid-American Conference regular-season champ Bowling Green Feb. 21-23. That's pretty good for a program that school officials announced it was halting in May, 2020. But a concerted fundraising effort raised $1.5 million in three weeks to save the day. The 2024 success marked the first winning season since 2010. Former Falcons players include major leaguers Doug Bair, Orel Hershiser and Roger McDowell. Furman also announced the demise of its baseball program in May, 2020. Perhaps Paladins officials should look to Bowling Green for some inspiration. #ReviveFurmanBaseball!
* With Spartanburg Methodist's move up to four-year competition, National Junior College Athletic Association Region 10 has tweaked its region schedule. There are six teams in Region 10 Division I: Florence-Darlington Tech, Gaston College, USC Lancaster, USC Salkehatchie, USC Sumter and USC Union. Each will play the other five teams in a pair of three-game series (one home, one away) for a total of 30 region games. I don't know if region rules will allow a rainout in the first series to be made up in the second series. In past seasons, each region team played one-four game series that counted in the region standings. A full region schedule last year covered 24 games.
* This doesn't involve state teams, but I find it interesting nonetheless: Georgia and Georgia Tech are scheduled to play just once this season - April 15 at Truist Park in Atlanta. If that holds true, it will mark the first since since 1901 that they have played just once in a year. There were no Tech-Georgia games in 1908, 1920-24, 1936 and 1943-45.
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